Human rights court ruling a rebuke for electoral law in Russia

The European Court of Human Rights yesterday ruled that the dissolution of the Republican Party in Russia by the Russian justice ministry in 2007 was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (1). Commenting on the ruling deputy chair of the EU-Russian parliamentary cooperation committee Werner Schulz said:"This long overdue decision has underlined that Russian electoral law is in conflict with international and European norms. With parliamentary elections in Russia later this year, this ruling throws a timely spotlight on the urgent need to reform electoral law in Russia. We hope the Russian authorities will now prioritise this crucial democratic reform ahead of the elections and ensure all candidates are treated fairly and equally. The first step to this end would be removing the hurdles for the registration of opposition parties." (1) The ECHR found the dissolution breached Article 11 of the Convention.